Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less

How do you cut through the noise, commotion, and bad information that is right now cluttering up your customers' digital space? Epic Content Marketing. One of the world's leading experts on content marketing, Joe Pulizzi explains how to draw prospects and customers in by creating information and content they actually want to engage with. No longer can we interrupt our customers with mediocre content (and sales messages) our customers don't care about. Epic Content Marketing takes you step by step through the process of developing stories that inform and entertain and compel customers to act - without actually telling them to.

Everybody Writes is a go-to guide to attracting and retaining customers through stellar online communication, because in our content-driven world, every one of us is, in fact, a writer. If you have a web site, you are a publisher. If you are on social media, you are in marketing. And that means that we are all relying on our words to carry our marketing messages. We are all writers.

The Content Code: Six Essential Strategies to Ignite Your Content, Your Marketing, and Your Business

Mark W. Schaefer, college educator, consultant, and best-selling author of five marketing books including Social Media Explained and The Tao of Twitter, has delivered a path-finding book exploring the six factors that will help you break through the overwhelming wall of information density to win at marketing now...beyond content, beyond social media, beyond web traffic and Search Engine Optimization. The Content Code starts where your current marketing plan ends, and provides the launch code for next-level success.

Known: The Handbook for Building and Unleashing Your Personal Brand in the Digital Age

In today's world, there is a permanent advantage to becoming known in your field. Those who are known get the customers, the better jobs, and the invitations to exclusive opportunities. But can anybody become known? In this path-finding book, author Mark Schaefer provides a step-by-step plan followed by the most successful people in diverse careers like banking, education, real estate, construction, fashion, and more.

Unscripted: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship

You live in your dream house, but there's no mortgage. No alarm clock, no boss, no bills. No claims on the day's time other than what you choose. It is making more money before breakfast than you made for an entire week at your last job. It is a crazy expensive car parked in your garage, a victorious symbol that your dreams no longer sleep in fantasies, but are awake with reality.

Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work That Lasts

How can we create and market creative works that achieve longevity? Holiday explores this mystery by drawing on his extensive experience working with businesses and creators such as Google, American Apparel, and the author John Grisham as well as his interviews with the minds behind some of the greatest perennial sellers of our time.

A pioneer of content marketing, Joe Pulizzi has cracked the code when it comes to the power of content in a world where marketers still hold fast to traditional models that no longer work. In Content Inc., he breaks down the business-startup process into six steps, making it simple for you to visualize, launch, and monetize your own business.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Releases, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly

The benchmark guide to marketing and PR, updated with the latest social media and marketing trends, tools, and real-world examples of success The New Rules of Marketing & PR, 4th Edition is the pioneering guide to the future of marketing, an international best seller with more than 300,000 copies sold in over 25 languages. It offers a step-by-step action plan for harnessing the power of modern marketing and PR to communicate with buyers directly, raise visibility, and increase sales.

Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs

To connect with today's buyer, you need to stop pushing your message out and start pulling your customers in. The rules of marketing have changed and the key to winning is to use this change to your advantage. If you've wondered how to get found in Google or why blogs and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are important, Inbound Marketing is the audiobook for you.

Are you afraid to hit publish? Content marketing is how marketing happens today. You know you want to use it, but you're unsure about where to start. You may not feel confident about your writing abilities, either. Master Content Marketing is a step-by-step guide through the content marketing process. Pamela Wilson's 30 years of marketing experience infuse the guidance in the book. "Scores of people profess to be content marketing experts. Who can you trust? You can trust Pamela Wilson." - Brian Clark, CEO Rainmaker Digital and founder of Copyblogger (from the Foreword).

Oversubscribed: How to Get People Lining Up to Do Business with You

Don't fight for customers; let them fight over you! Have you ever queued for a restaurant? Preordered something months in advance? Fought for tickets that sell out in a day? Had a hairdresser with a six-month waiting list? There are people who don't chase clients; clients chase them. In a world of endless choices, why does this happen? Why do people queue up? Why do they pay more? Why will they book months in advance? Why are these people and products in such high demand?

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

Tribes are groups of people aligned around an idea, connected to a leader and to each other. Tribes make our world work, and always have. The new opportunity is that it's easier than ever to find, organize, and lead a tribe. The Web has enabled an explosion of all kinds of tribes - and created shortage of people to lead them. This is the growth industry of our time. Tribes will help you understand exactly what's at stake, and why YOU can and should lead a tribe of your own.

To grow your business in today's economy, you need a strong online presence. But what does that entail exactly? Marketing is no longer about mass-market advertising and outbound sales; it's about capturing demand - grabbing the attention of people already looking to make a purchase or acquire specific knowledge. To do that, your content needs to be at the top of Internet search results. From website designers to business owners, marketers to entrepreneurs, everyone can benefit from understanding and applying SEO best practices.

Build a Brand in 30 Days

You don't need a marketing degree or intensive training to build an attention-grabbing brand; you just need this audiobook - and 30 days. Simon Middleton shows you how to create, manage and communicate your brand profoundly and effectively, in just 30 days, by following 30 clear exercises. How you work through the book is up to you, the result will be the same: an authentic, compelling and highly distinctive brand that will attract and engage customers and fans. You will learn how to:

Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion

Do you have a hobby you wish you could indulge in all day? An obsession that keeps you up at night? Now is the perfect time to take that passion and make a living doing what you love. In Crush It! Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion, Gary Vaynerchuk shows you how to use the power of the Internet to turn your real interests into real businesses.

How to Build a Billion Dollar App: Discover the secrets of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time

The ultimate guide to building an app-based business - now revised and updated. Apps have changed the way we communicate, shop, play, interact and travel, and their phenomenal popularity has presented possibly the biggest business opportunity in history. In How to Build a Billion Dollar App, serial tech entrepreneur George Berkowski gives you exclusive access to the secrets behind the success of the select group of apps that have achieved billion-dollar success.

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It

In this audio edition of the totally revised underground best seller, The E-Myth, Michael Gerber dispels the myths surrounding starting your own business and shows how commonplace assumptions can get in the way of running a business. He walks you through the steps in the life of a business, from entrepreneurial infancy, through adolescent growing pains, to the mature entrepreneurial perspective, the guiding light of all businesses that succeed.

Vlog Like a Boss: How to Kill It Online with Video Blogging

Vlog Like a Boss is the complete guide to video blogging. Amy Schmittauer is the Vlog Boss. As a new media triple threat - YouTuber, keynote speaker, and author - she coaches people to go after what they want in life and leverage online video to make it happen. Creator of the popular YouTube series Savvy Sexy Social, her channel boasts a global community and millions of views. Now, in her first book, she will show you how to Vlog Like a Boss and get the attention you deserve.

Online Business Startup: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Launching a Fast, Lean and Profitable Online Venture

Online Business Startup isn't just a how-to guide in online marketing or SEO.... It contains everything an experienced entrepreneur wished he had known when he started in business. We are flooded with so much information in the digital world that it distracts us from the fundamentals of starting up and running a lean business. This book is ultimately an answer to the question "how can we quickly implement proven strategies for my online business and avoid all the noise?"

Virtual Freedom: How to Work with Virtual Staff to Buy More Time, Become More Productive, and Build Your Dream Business

Entrepreneurs often suffer from "superhero syndrome" - the misconception that to be successful, they must do everything themselves. They are not only the boss but also the salesperson, HR manager, copywriter, operations manager, online marketing guru, and so much more. It's no wonder so many people give up the dream of starting a business - it's just too much for one person to handle. But outsourcing expert and "Virtual CEO" Chris Ducker knows how you can get the help you need with resources you can afford.

The Values Factor: The Secret to Creating an Inspired and Fulfilling Life

The Values Factor shows you how to create a life in which every minute can be inspiring and fulfilling. The first step is to identify what you find most meaningful - the values in life that are most important to you. Once you understand your own unique values and align your life accordingly, you can achieve fulfillment in every aspect of your life: deepening your loving relationships, creating an inspiring career, establishing financial freedom, and tapping into a rich spiritual life.

Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator

"You've seen it all before. A malicious online rumor costs a company millions. A political sideshow derails the national news cycle and destroys a candidate. Some product or celebrity zooms from total obscurity to viral sensation. What you don't know is that someone is responsible for all this. Usually, someone like me. I'm a media manipulator. In a world where blogs control and distort the news, my job is to control blogs-as much as any one person can."

Publisher's Summary

To market your business, reach new customers, and create long-lasting loyalty, you need one indispensable element: CONTENT. Whether it’s bite-sized tweets that allow you to forge relationships on Twitter, blog posts that give your readers must-have advice, ebooks or white papers that engage (and don’t bore), videos that share the human side of your company, interactive webinars that deliver a valuable learning experience, or podcasts that can be downloaded and listened to on the fly (and more!) . . . now more than ever, content rules!

Today, you have an unprecedented opportunity to create a treasury of free, easy-to-use, almost infinitely customizable content that tells the story of your product and your business, and positions you as an expert people will want to do business with.Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman, business writers, speakers, and marketing thought leaders for clients such as The Coca-Cola Company, HBO, and Verizon FiOS, show you how to leverage all of today’s tools to create content that truly speaks to your audience. They’ll show you how to:

Understand why you are generating content—getting to the meat of your message in practical, commonsense language, and defining the goals of your content strategy

Write in a way that powerfully communicates your service, product, or message across various Web mediums

Create a publishing schedule that allows you to create different kinds and types of content at once

Offering examples of businesses using content effectively across a wide range of industries and fascinating explanations of how you might approach your own content strategy, Content Rules is the essential field guide to creating your story, finding the right balance of humor and humanity in your content, and building a portfolio of value that will keep delivering for the long haul.

This book talks about lots of different ideas for contact and is useful if you have something up and running by way of a blog or website. However, if you are looking for something that talks about how to get started, there are better titles out there. I would recommend this for someone who has mastered the basics and wants to think more deeply about writing content for their blogs and websites. Otherwise, start with something like 'Pimp my site' (UK) or 'Inbound Marketing' (US).

Well worth the listen, has a lot of inspiring moments. Sadly some of the example content is starting to date, with most of the case studies at the end no longer being relevant. I would love to hear an updated version that focuses less on blogs and more on the explosion of video.This aside it is still well worth your time, either for a person starting out in this realm or someone more experienced wanting to polish up their stayed approach.

Although I already had a decent high-level understanding of the areas this book covers I found it interesting from cover to cover. Every chapter is useful and interesting, it never gets dry and I never found myself flicking ahead to see how much longer the chapters went on. A must read!

I really, really want to learn the information in this book. I'm a professional artist, and I listen to audio books while painting. I've listened to a LOT of books. Due to the rubbish narration, they have lost me 20 seconds into the introduction/overview. (the idiots even narrate the Dedication :-/ )Please re-release this with a professional narrator.

Although a lot of stuff was not new for me, it's because I've already done a lot of research on the subject. Still it helped me refresh what I already knew along with learning new stuff. I would recommend this book. If you are new to the world of blogging and content generation for whatever genre, this book is for you. If you are an experienced writer, I'm sure you'd still get new tips and your existing knowledge refreshed from this book.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Steve

12/09/11

Overall

Performance

Story

"Average at best, narration needs a lot of work."

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I listen to most of my audio books while driving to and from work. I find that my attention to the audio is a great gauge for the interaction provided from the narrator. Unforunately, Ms. Handley is a dreadful narrator. I found myself tuning her out numerous times regardless of the value of what she was saying, which is unfortunate. Ms. Handley really needs some coaching to perfect her narration, otherwise the next book is going to suffer equally. I felt as if she was reading from a book in a 12th grade English class. Very few inflections, and when they were present, they were very obviously over the top as if the text on the page read (read with intent here.) Mr. Chapman was average in terms of holding my attention, but he did manage to bring some life to the recording. His speech was a bit more conversational, which helps to keep the listener interested and engaged.
In terms of information, I have to say this was one of the more desireable aspects of the book. They covered a diverse number of topics and gave great detail as to how one might endeavor to put these plans into action. Unfrotunately, once again I need to focus on Ms. Handley, as her portion of the book had some rather inane concepts. For example, there was an entire section devoted to word substitutions. At the risk of sounding arrogant, who are YOU to tell me what words my audience will appreciate? Several buzz words that you suggested were just as aggregious, if not more offensive than the originals. It seems to me that this was wasted filler material that is highly subjective and serves no benefit but to prop up the authors as some sort of authorities on what will or will not fly. Let's be clear, this book is just another in a series of social marketing tools, and the fact that it exists only goes to show that you're trying. Let's not take ourselves too seriously and assume that we know for a fact what will and will not work. This is a dangerous precedent to set.
All in all, it's not a bad book. There were some good nuggets of information, some filler and minor repetition. And by the way, I think I'm noticing a trend here. Much like websites work to get backlinks from other sites, it appears that books (or audio books) function much the same way, with authors often mentioning other authors in their readings....and those other authors just happen to have books for sale during the same period of time. Coincidence? I'll leave you to figure it out.

What three words best describe Ann Handley, and CC Chapman’s voice?

Amatuer

11 of 13 people found this review helpful

Dr. Brian L. Carpenter

03/10/11

Overall

Performance

Story

"A complete waste of time"

What would have made Content Rules better?

For a book whose title extols the supreme value of content, this book, besides being worthless, is self-contradictory. It is full of cliches, contains no recommendations a content creator with two hours of experience hasn't already figured out, and is so condescending, listening to it makes an ice-cream induced brain freeze preferable. The authors chirp in an annoying sing-song tone reminiscent of a cheerleading rally and for supposed content experts, they mispronounce words from their own book (e.g., primer, obfuscate, Waltham, PA). Pure schlock.

11 of 14 people found this review helpful

Heather

United States

29/01/12

Overall

Performance

Story

"Narration absolutely horrible"

The content of this book is pretty good but the narration was woeful. They both spoke way too fast, almost unintelligibly at times. DO NOT BUY THE AUDIBLE VERSION unless you want to be thoroughly annoyed and disappointed.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Andrew

SAN DIEGO, CA, United States

03/01/12

Overall

Performance

Story

"Great listen, probably best as a reference book"

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes and no. I enjoyed it but it was clear that I would have read it and been able to see a lot more

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Markie48

Indianapolis, IN, US

21/10/11

Overall

Performance

Story

"Definitely recommend for novices !"

Ms Handley and CC have put together one of the better books on social media tips I have seen. I have listened to their book three times now. I have employed –along with our company- many of their “social media stew” recipe tips on facebook and website content suggestions successfully. One of the best compliments I could give them and this book is that I have used facebook successfully the first time in a business sense. We use a medical protocol that many persons found helpful by reading and exercising the applications direct from facebook that we would not have believed if we had not seen the results-in a week’s time! Their clear cut and direct suggestions are easy to understand and use. Even if you have struggled in the past with your product, service, or just ‘talking’ with your friends on facebook, LinkedIn or any of the other ways they mention in their ‘bible’ for social channels, you cannot help but improve with just 2 or 3 of their helpful hints.We will soon employ their advice and recommendations on our first “YouTube” video and anticipate nothing but success!

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Alicia B

04/01/17

Overall

Performance

Story

"The BEST "course" for Content!"

If you could sum up Content Rules in three words, what would they be?

Read. Re-Read. Read.

What did you like best about this story?

The level of detail and practical application is phenomenal. The 'content' that Ann and CJ crafted in this book is better than ANY in-person or online course I've ever taken. After reading this book once, my content drafting skills improved 100% and my writing business has benefitted tremendously.

Any additional comments?

This book is a MUST READ book for serious writers, marketing professionals, and - business people who's strength is not content or marketing. This book will help any individual think better and write better, ultimately making them communicate better.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

KH

22/08/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Content rules but w/ audiobooks performance counts"

What would have made Content Rules better?

I wanted to like this book, I really did, but there's a difference between catering to beginners and condescension. I won't deny that there's a fair amount of good content here, but much of it is tucked away inside of poorly executed attempts at conversational tone. Beyond that, the writing is terribly repetitive. Any writer worth their salt knows that once you've made your point, it's time to move onto the next one! Readers don't have the time or inclination to play things on a loop.

Would you ever listen to anything by Ann Handley and C. C. Chapman again?

No. I expect that authors attend carefully to providing their readers with not only excellent content but reasonably good delivery of that content as well. They failed here and I'm not going to gamble on another one of their books unless they hire someone (singular) to narrate it for them.

How could the performance have been better?

I've never listened to an audiobook that relied on alternating narrators and now I know why: it's terribly distracting. For something so content-oriented, switching back and forth between readers was tough. I listen when I'm driving, jogging, or organizing so having another dimension to my listening experience is seldom welcome.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment.

Any additional comments?

Objectively looking at this book for its content, I would give it a 3.5-star rating. Factoring in their performance (delivery of content) I couldn't give a score higher than 2.5 overall.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Anonymous

27/06/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"amazing book"

for someone looking to start or learn about what it means to do content marketing!!!

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

80sTees

18/07/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"don't waste your time"

Would you try another book from Ann Handley and C. C. Chapman and/or Ann Handley and C. C. Chapman ?

no

Would you ever listen to anything by Ann Handley and C. C. Chapman again?

no

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Content Rules?

the whole thing, it's entirely useless.

Any additional comments?

I kept waiting for this book to tell me something, anything, that was of use. To top it off the narration was terrible.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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